Colin Barrie: Diary of a Scottish Gardener

Colin Barrie: Diary of a Scottish Gardener

After the week of weather, we have had, I think it is fair to say that summer has ended and the season has changed to Autumn, and what a glorious season Autumn is.

Autumn can be a great time for your garden and gardening does not have to stop just because the summer has. For instance, this is nature’s season for planting and therefore a great time to put plants in your gardens- newly planted stock can make great root growth over the next few weeks and then settle down over winter- ready to dazzle us in the Spring and Summer.

One of my favourite Autumn plants is Leucothoe Scarletta, sometimes called Red Lips because of its bright red glossy foliage, and watch over the winter as it gets redder and redder as the weather gets colder and colder.

Another great plant I love is Acer Osakazuki with its most amazing Autumn foliage that changes from a beautiful copper colour in late summer to a magnificent burnt orange as the season moves on.

Over the last week or so have you noticed the large number of berries that are appearing on Rowan trees? There seems far more than usual and I have always been led to believe that berries in the Autumn is nature’s way of feeding the birds before winter, and the more berries there are, the colder the winter will be, so I am very interested to see if this is true.

Let’s enjoy the amazing colours of Autumn though before we start thinking of Winter – it will be here soon enough!

Happy gardening!

PLANT OF THE WEEK: HEUCHERA

This is a wonderful autumnal evergreen with so many varieties to choose from. My particular favourites at the moment are ‘Lime Marmalade’ which has the most fantastic ruffled leaves in a vibrant green and ‘Cranberry’ which has a luscious, rich russet colour – and they contrast beautifully when planted together. They do really well in borders or planted autumn containers

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